The Migration Amendment (Reform of Employer Sanctions) Act 2013 commenced on 1 June 2013. The new legislation raises the bar on businesses to make sure they don’t have staff working for them illegally by implementing processes to regularly check non-citizen and non-permanent resident employee and contractor work rights.

The new legislation enables the Department of Immigration to issue infringement notices to organisations engaging workers and contractors in breach of their visa conditions. Without the need for court proceedings, businesses face fines of $16,200 regardless of fault for each infringement.